Suffolk: The Shingle Street Shell Line.
dog friendly | tide times | stayStretches of shingle lined with coastguard cottages lay at the end of a narrow lane. It feels like the back of beyond and has a peacefulness that can only be found in these curious places along the English coast that it seems time forgot.
Itās at this expanse of shingle beach that you will find a single line of white shells that circles a coastal plant and then carries on itās journey 300 yards across the shingle where it trails off somewhere near where the tide stops. The Shingle Street Shell Line has a wonderful story - two friends, now 70, who grew up in the Netherlands together were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. At the time of their breast cancer diagnosis Ms Bottema was a ceramicist in Zutphen and Mrs Kindersey was a letter cutter in Cambridge. On meeting on Shingle Street beach during their respective treatments in 2015 they sat and chatted and while did so arranged shells round a plant. The Shell Line started here and as the friends continued to meet while they both underwent treatment they added to the line and it started to grow.
But as the line grew, the friends cancers went into remission and the line continues to be a sign of the strength and support of their friendship. 20,000 white whelk shells mark their journey and the therapy the building of the line gave them at a time they needed a meditative task.
Both women are now cancer free and continue to return to the beach to repair the line every six months, sometimes taking a week to repair it. Itās a symbol of friendship and strength and a lovely thing to walk alongside.
Curiously, up close the shells looks scattered and sparse but the line is definite and clear when you take a few steps back. Shingle Street is also a lovely place to visit in itās own right. Enjoy.
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